Ed Bradley, the late 60 Minutes correspondent and civil rights activist Bayard Rustin.īut Cheyney’s legacy is at risk. Cole, one of the first black female physicians in the U.S. Its alumni include Julian Abele, architect of the Philadelphia Free Library and the Philadelphia Museum of Art Rebecca J. It has been owned by the state since 1922 and was a founding member of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), which was created in 1983. Founded in 1837 - a quarter century before Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation - as a school for teacher education, it’s the oldest existing postsecondary institution for black students, though not the first historically black degree-granting institution. “It really does look like a shadow of itself.”Ĭheyney holds a unique place among HBCUs. “There are lots and lots of factors at play that make it really messy,” says Marybeth Gasman, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Minority-Serving Institutions, of Cheyney. Its six-year graduation rate is 26 percent, low even among historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) like Cheyney, which serve many disadvantaged students and historically have rates below 55 percent, the average national rate reported by the National Student Clearinghouse. It hasn’t had a permanent president in more than a year, and no search is underway for one. Many of its facilities are outdated and in disrepair. During one recent admissions cycle, scores of forgotten and unreviewed applications were lost and then rediscovered too late, sources say.Ī recent review found that Cheyney, which has no financial reserves and no endowment, may have to repay as much as $30 million in federal aid funds because it didn’t properly administer or track them. The university has mismanaged many of its administrative functions, which are deeply disorganized - a widely held view, including by supporters of the institution. With its state funding slashed by 20 percent during that time, the university has a deficit of nearly $19 million.
The institution's students have been leaving in droves, and enrollment is down by about half since 2008. One of the oldest historically black colleges in the United States is fighting to survive.Ĭheyney University, a small, rural public institution in Pennsylvania, faces challenges on nearly every front.
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